October 28, 1996
Volume 2, No. 4
First-quarter report cards will be sent home with students this week. Please read Summit's "Grading Policy" and "Attendance and Homework Policy" in this issue of Summit News.
Parent-teacher conferences will be on Wednesday, October 30, from 3:30 PM to 7:30 PM, and on Friday, November 1, from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM (no school that day).
We regret than some parents were discouraged from signing up to meet with all of their student's teachers. If you were unable to get an appointment you want, please call the Summit counselor, Corky Strong, who will make appropriate arrangements.
We will evaluate this semester's scheduling for parent-teacher conferences and will make the necessary changes for next semester.
October 30, 3:30-7:30 PM: Parent-teacher conferences.
October 31: Halloween. Normal Summit school day.
November 1, 8:00-3:00 PM: Parent-teacher conferences (no school).
Dean of Fun Jeff Bradley and the Social Committee are planning some events for the school. The first is a dance, to be held within a couple of weeks in the school cafeteria, from 3:05 to 5:00 PM. The precise date will be announced at school. Parents should plan for student transportation.
Please discuss the following rules with your students:
Good behavior is expected. Anyone who acts otherwise will be asked to leave immediately and will be subject to further disciplinary action from the Summit administration.
Students must stay in the cafeteria, the gym, and other designated areas. They may not wander through the Summit or Southern-Hills buildings or classrooms.
Students are free to leave the dance at any time. Once they leave the designated area, however, they cannot come back in. Just like in baseball, once you're out, you're out.
Plans are also underway for a skating party at Rola-Rena in Longmont. For this event, we will charter buses from the school district to take students to and from the event. Permission slips must be in hand before students can go.
Parent volunteers are needed to staff the dance and the skating party. Anyone who is available should contact Jeff Bradley, 499-4275. Siblings should not attend either event.
The Summit Tools for Learning fund drive now stands at $25,000 — only $5,000 away from our goal of $30,000. So far 117 families have made contributions, with an average gift of $214. The success of our fundraiser is now in the hands of the remaining Summit families. A donation at any level will help us meet our participation and dollar goals. We plan to wrap up this annual fund drive in the next ten days, so if you have not sent in your card, please do so.
Judy Demarest, chair of the Fundraising Committee, reports that parent volunteers are calling Summit families from whom pledge cards have not been received. "We are not asking them for money," she said. "We just ask them to return their cards." Families who have misplaced their fundraiser packet can obtain another in the school office.
Committee member Jeff Bradley observes that, to clear $25,000 in a common alternative fundraiser, Summit students would have had to sell $75,000 worth of magazine subscriptions. He notes that "the Tools for Learning campaign has not diverted students and faculty from their important work in the classroom."
Thank-you notes are going out to all donors. These notes contain the amount of the gift as well as the tax numbers of the school, and should be kept for tax purposes. For those who itemize their taxes, gifts to Summit are deductible. Judy explained that she is the only one in the organization who knows how much each family contributed. "Several people help write the thank-you notes," she said, "but I am the one who later fills in the amount. The donor card gives people an opportunity to be thanked in the annual report, but we felt that we should keep exact amounts confidential."
Many thanks to all who have contributed so far. If the remaining families step up and do their part, Summit's first annual fund drive will reach its goal. All of our students will benefit from the materials bought through Tools for Learning.
Thanks for Your Feedback
The Board of Directors thanks you for your prompt, insightful, and valuable comments on our recent Parent Satisfaction Survey. Your remarks will be very helpful in planning our program for next semester and the next academic year. If you have not yet sent in your survey forms, please do so as soon as possible.
Summit offers courses at different levels in each of its five core subjects: English, mathematics, social studies, foreign language, and science. In addition, students can choose from a rich assortment of electives.
Detailed grading procedures are developed in each subject area based on the following principles:
1. Grades will primarily measure individual student achievement, as measured by performance.
2. In order that grades accurately reflect student achievement, grade inflation will be neither encouraged nor tolerated.
3. Letter grades will be given for all core courses, on a scale of A to F. At the teacher's option, and with the concurrence of the Principal, an elective course may be evaluated on a pass/fail basis.
4. In cases where numerical scores are given for student work, grades will be calculated on the following basis: A = 90% and above, B = 80% to 89%, C = 70% to 79%, D = 60% to 69%, F = below 60%.
5. Pluses and minuses may be attached to letter grades at teacher discretion. A "plus" will mean achievement near the top of a grade range and "minus" near the bottom.
6. Grades will be reported to parents quarterly (the end of October, mid-January, the end of March, and the beginning of June).
7. All students will also receive a mid-quarter progress report the end of September for the first quarter of the school year.
8. In addition, mid-quarter progress reports will be sent in the other three quarters to the parents of any student who is earning a grade of D or F.
9. Each semester, the two quarter grades (and a semester exam grade, if appropriate) will be averaged for a semester grade and will be reported, together with the current quarter grade, to parents.
10. While the basis on which grades are calculated will vary from subject to subject, in general the letter grades will have the following meaning: A = Outstanding, B = Proficient, C = Adequate, D = Deficient, F = Unacceptable.
Homework is an integral aspect of the ambitious curriculum which Summit Middle School offers. Homework assignments will emphasize genuine learning and will build upon concepts and skills presented in the classroom, rather than stress rote and repetitive drill and "make-work." Students can expect to have some homework every night.
Because of the level and pace of most courses at Summit, students need to attend school regularly, unless prevented by illness or emergency. Parents are strongly encouraged to plan family vacations and other optional events at times which will not conflict with the school calendar.
Excused absences shall include, but are not limited to, those caused by illness, injury, surgery, medical appointments, family emergencies, bereavement, religious holidays, participation in scheduled extracurricular events, school field trips, and in-school suspensions. If parents have a question in advance about whether an absence will be considered excused, they should call the Summit Middle School office. Once the student returns to school after an excused absence, it is that student's responsibility to obtain a list of missed assignments. S/he will have twice the number of days missed to make up the work for full credit. Beyond that time limit for excused absences, or in the case of unexcused absences, individual teachers have discretion regarding credit for missed work.
In general, if some serious reason, like illness, prevents a student from attending school, s/he should probably not attempt to do homework until well enough to return to school. Obviously, however, some circumstances that require an absence will also permit the student to work on those assignments which s/he is missing. In that case, a student or parent may call InfoCall, the Parent-Teacher Hotline, for the missed assignments. (See "Summit Homework Hotline" in this issue of Summit News.)
Summit will not, as a rule, provide homework assignments in advance of anticipated absences. However, individual teachers may, at their discretion, provide assignments in advance, and the Summit office can assist parents in contacting a student's teachers with such a request. Summit's office and teachers are here to serve you and to help students catch up on missed work due to excused absences. Please feel free to call the office to let us know of any hardship or special circumstances regarding missed homework.
. . . to Gilly McGinnis and Jessy Oreck for receiving honorable mentions on their "High 5" T-shirt designs. Their designs were selected from those of middle-school students throughout the district.
Lost and Found
You would be amazed at the number of jackets, notebooks, calculators, lunch bags, and textbooks (!) that are accumulating in the various classrooms and in the office. Please encourage your student to search for lost items in the Summit office, the Southern Hills office, and in each classroom. If you label your possessions, it will help us get them back to you.
Half of our students have not yet returned their permission slips to allow excursions in the immediate vicinity of Summit. If the form is not returned, your student will be unable to go with a P.E. class to the Fitness Course, or with a science class to the lake, or with a social studies class to sit under a tree on a nice day. Extra forms are available in the office.
The Board of Directors, Mr. Haas, and the faculty have agreed to implement a homework telephone hotline. We thank the teachers for their willingness to go the extra kilometer to make homework information readily available to all students. This free service (underwritten by the Boulder Daily Camera) allows parents to monitor homework habits and to become active partners in their student's education.
Here is how it works. Dial 938-9090 and the appropriate core teacher's category number:
Ms. Ammon, Foreign language, 0670
Ms. Avallone, English, 0671
Ms. Brakhage, English, 0672
Ms. Cox, Social studies, 0673
Ms. Dozeman, English, 0674
Ms. Dressler, Math, 0675
Ms. Frohbieter, Math, 0676
Dr. Guinn, Science, 0677
Mr. Haas, Math, 0678
Ms. Hanckel, Foreign language, 0679
Mr. Koch, Social studies, 0680
Dr. Sikora, Science, 0681
Ms. Stough, Foreign language, 0682
Also on InfoCall is information about Summit, including Summit News highlights, categories 6165-6168.
It is not necessary to listen to an entire recording. By pressing "#," it is possible to skip the remainder of any message and enter another category number.
Students can use the hotline to confirm assignments. Parents can call to make sure students are completing all assignments in a timely manner. Some recordings will contain just the following day's assignment, while others may include information for the next few weeks. Messages may also contain test and quiz reminders and important dates for long-term projects. The category numbers will be published regularly in the large InfoCall display ad in the Camera.
The Homework Hotline does not excuse any student from entering homework assignments in his or her assignment books when they are given. However, it provides a backup and a source of accurate information should a student miss school or otherwise lose track of an assignment.
The Homework Hotline should be fully implemented by the end of this week. Thanks to Marti Gorman for making all the arrangements for InfoCall and the Homework Hotline.
Help Needed for Vision-Hearing Screening
About 20 more people are needed for the Summit/Southern-Hills vision and hearing screening on October 31, 8:15 to 12:15 AM. Please contact the Summit office. Thanks.
Extra special thanks to Terry Cook and Linda Parkhill who worked all day on October 15 to prepare the ground for sod.
Summit News is published biweekly on Mondays and distributed to students during 7th period to take home. If you miss one, back issues are available in the Summit office.
Contributions from parents are welcome. Please write your name and phone number on notes or articles intended for Summit News. Large articles should be on floppy disk (any format). Put them in the Summit News mailbox in the office.
The Technology Committee needs someone to help install computers and Internet hubs in the classrooms. Please send e-mail to Hunter McDaniel, oxothuk@worldnet.att.net, if you can help.
Grocery Coupon Offerings Expanded
The mother of all fundraising, Judy Demarest, announced that Summit now offers Albertson's grocery-store coupons in addition to those good at King Soopers. "More and more Summit families are helping the school as they do their weekly shopping," she commented. "The coupons offer a way to benefit the school at no cost to participating households."
Right now Summit is clearing about $800 per month from the sale of grocery coupons. Money from grocery coupon sales gives our principal and board flexibility to meet any unexpected challenges as well as opportunities for special projects.
Grocery coupon orders are phoned in by Judy on alternate Tuesdays at noon. Please make sure your student delivers your order envelope to the office, not to the classroom teachers, before noon.
On October 30 at 7 PM and October 31 at 3:30 PM, Base Line Middle School's arts focus school will present literary and instrumental works and a play, "The Halloween Tree," by Ray Bradbury. Tickets are $3.50 for adults, $2.50 for students, with a $1.00 discount if you wear a costume on October 31. Call Susan Hering, 499-2495, for more information.
Magazines Wanted
Ms. Stough would welcome donations of popular magazines with lots of pictures to cut up and use in her Spanish classes. Please bring them to her class.
Example — Incorrect: "She's like, `Oops! I forgot to, like, do my homework.'"
Example — Correct: "She said, `Yes! I finished my homework!'"
Every parent is a potential resource. Even if you cannot give volunteer time now, please return those yellow forms for the Summit Resource Data Bank.
On November 25 and 26, the Summit/Southern-Hills Media Center will sponsor a two-for-one Scholastic Books sale from 3:30 to 7:30 PM.
Please plan on joining us Tuesday afternoons from 3:10 to 3:40 PM in room 279 for 6th-grade joint-Summit/Southern-Hills Math Olympiads. We solve interesting math problems in preparation for monthly contests. The first one will be during our regular meeting on November 19. Math Olympiads is a fun opportunity to learn new problem-solving strategies.
Here is a sample Math Olympiads problem: "Suppose five days before the day after tomorrow is Wednesday. What day of the week was yesterday?" For more information, or to check your answer, call Connie Harmon, 499-2061.
Math Counts is for 7th and 8th graders interested in math problem solving. Sixth graders may participate in all but the competitions. Meetings are Wednesday mornings from 7:20 to 7:50 AM in Ms. Dressler's room. A competition will be held at Summit in January to select a team for further competitions at the district level and above.
Odyssey of the Mind teams are organizing at Summit. OM offers an opportunity to develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills. The long-term projects for 1996-97 are:
Balloonacy Cars — This problem requires teams to design, build and run three small vehicles that will break moving and stationary balloons. Each car will carry its own set of cards, which will limit the number of scoring runs it may make. One of these cars will be the Carrier, which will transport the other cars, in addition to breaking balloons.
Omerdroid — The team's problem is to create and present a humorous performance that includes a team-made Omerdroid (android) that has physical human features. The Omerdroid — designed, built and operated by the team — must perform human actions during the performance.
Classics . . . Can You Dig It? — For this problem, the team will create and present a performance about archaeology that includes four team-made artifacts and a team member who portrays an archaeologist. The performance will include an act that takes place during an ancient time, where the purpose and/or use of the artifacts will be depicted, and a modern act, where the archaeologist explains the purpose and/or use of the artifacts based on his or her conclusions.
Double Trouble — The team's problem is to design and build one structure that is made up of two individual balsa-wood-and-glue structures. One of the structures will be a beam structure designed to bridge a gap; the other will be a load-bearing structure designed to rest on the beam structure and balance weights. The combined structure will be tested by supporting as much weight as possible. The team members will also create and present a theme for their solution, and will be judged on how well they work together during the presentation of their solution.
Heroic Proportions — In this problem, the team is to create and present a humorous performance that includes a character that has one or more out-of-proportion characteristics, or is extremely large or extremely small. This characteristic will enable the character to do something better, or something it otherwise could not do. The character will use this ability at one time to help a member of its species and at another time to help a member of a different species. All materials for the team's presentation must fit inside a 4' x 4' x 4' cube (1.8 m3).
If you are interested in participating as a team member or as a coach, call Corky Strong, Summit counselor, 499-9511, by Friday, November 1.